Ten in One-Shots
by Komodo-Lancer
Summary: A collection of one-shots set in the "Ten in One" universe. No flames please.
1. Oddly Familiar

**Oddly Familiar**

Beast Boy could not put his finger on it, but there was something about Kevin 11 that was familiar to him. It was so odd. He had had no past history with the mutant before his appearance in Jump City, yet Beast Boy felt that he somehow knew Kevin from somewhere. Perhaps he reminded him of Icon, seeing as the two had the powers of ten different extraterrestrial organisms.

Or maybe, it was something else about Kevin…something that reminded him of…_himself._

But just what was it? What was it about Kevin 11 that reminded him of himself?

XXX

Icon could not put his finger on it, but there was something about Ben and Gwen that reminded him of some of his teammates.

Gwen for instance, made him think of Terra for some reason. If he had to guess, he would say it was because of them both being young, small-bodied girls who were able to levitate objects of some sort. Or maybe, it was something else.

Ben, on the other hand, reminded him of someone he never would have expected. For some reason, the ten-year old reminded him of _Raven._

But just what was it? What was it about the Tennyson children that reminded him of Terra and Raven?

**Author's Note: For anyone who wants answers to the above questions, feel free to look up Greg Cipes, Ashley Johnson, and Tara Strong.**


	2. Of What Was and Of Things to Come

Of What Was and Of Things to Come

**Author's Note: The following takes place during "Hex's Hexes", a chapter from the story "The Power of Two." Whether or not the scene is canon is ambiguous at the moment.**

"This is incredible," uttered Icon as he looked into a long display case before him. Inside, there was an equally lengthy manuscript. While it was laid out across the length of the case, the folds indicated that the document was designed to fold like an accordion.

Ben peered into the case alongside Icon. "So that's one of the codices?"

Gwen also looked into the case. Before her were pages of glyphs and illustrations that she had never seen before. "It's so bizarre looking, not that it isn't interesting, though."

"I'm glad to hear that," Icon was still marveling over the artifact, "A _real, surviving_ _pre-Hispanic, Mayan_ codex. We're _so_ lucky to be seeing this."

Ben turned his head to Icon. "Because there were only three left?"

"Well, three readable ones anyways. All the others are in pieces, too degraded to read, or are too fragile to open."

"That's too bad," remarked Gwen.

"Yeah," Icon sighed as he folded his arms. "Unfortunately, most of them were destroyed by the Spanish when they occupied the Americas."

Gwen looked up at him in shock, seeming distressed at the idea of anyone doing anything to something resembling a book. "Destroyed them? _Why?_"

Icon lightly bit the inside of his lip. "The Spanish wanted to convert them. So…they tried erasing parts of their culture."

His fingers unknowingly dug into his arms.

"That's terrible…" uttered Gwen.

"It was," agreed Icon. "…But if it helps, I think a few non-Mayan manuscripts also survived. Plus, I know the Spanish _at least_ allowed the Aztecs to make more codices."

"They made more?" Gwen sounded hopeful.

"Apparently, the Spanish wanted to learn more about the Aztecs. If I remember correctly, it was so that they could govern them more efficiently, or something like that."

Ben looked back at the codex before him as Gwen and Icon continued to chat. While he did not find what Icon said uninteresting, he was not too big of an academic. For now, he would entertain himself with the Mayan codex. Ben had to admit, even after everything he had seen and done, the codex was still something else.

Then, his eyes caught sight of an information plaque fixed to the display case. More precisely, something on the plaque had caught his attention.

"...and because of that the Mayans were able to put up a longer fight than the Aztecs. And because of _that_ they were treated more harshly." Icon had just finished recounting some of the history between the Spanish Conquistadores and the different nations they had encountered.

"Is that why there are so few of their codices left?" pondered Gwen.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason."

"Hey guys!" Ben blurted.

Both Gwen and Icon turned their heads at the exclamation.

"Hm?"

Ben tapped on the plaque. "There's this weird symbol on here."

The two redheads moved over to Ben and looked at the plaque. Their eyes widened when they saw the description that was posted.

Gwen's eyes widened with surprise. "They found _new _symbols?"

"Yeah, like this really weird one right here." Ben pointed below description, where pictures of some of the new symbols were posted. Gwen and Icon followed his finger and sure enough saw something peculiar. Standing out from the rest, was a red S-shaped symbol.

"That _is _an interesting one," remarked Icon. Curious about the symbol, Icon looked back to the codex to see if he could find it in context. Unexpectedly, he was able to find it rather quickly. He found it easily because it was right in the middle of one of the pages. Also, the symbol was surrounded by skull imagery.

Icon furrowed his brows. From the looks of things, the S-shaped symbol could have had something to do with death. Then again, he had learned that bones had also represented fertility and vitality in Mesoamerican cultures, so perhaps the S-shaped symbol had to do something with that instead. Or maybe, it could have even had something to do with both aspects.

Well, whatever it signified, the peculiar symbol's meaning would probably remain a mystery for years to come, that is, unless the scholars looking into it and the rest of the codex made a breakthrough. Even better yet would be if more information on the symbol were found from yet another rare source…but what were the odds of that?


End file.
